Monday, November 8, 2010

Chomsky: Americans frustrated at Obama


Press TV Interview

"The following is an exclusive Press TV interview with American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist and political activist Professor Noam Chomsky.

Chomsky shares his insights on the recent mid-term elections and how US citizens are in a state of hopelessness with their country's leadership.

Press TV: To shed more light on that, I'm luckily joined by Professor Noam Chomsky. He is with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. It's an honor to have you on the show with us Professor Chomsky. The world will be watching to see how difficult of a task it has become for Democratic President Barack Obama to manage the country with the new Republican majority. Please comment Professor Chomsky.

Chomsky: Well, I think it's quite difficult. Part of the reason is that the electoral campaign which just finished is remarkable in that there was almost no discussion, no comment on the major problems facing the country; either domestic or international......

....... So people feel frustrated. In fact, his base feels extremely frustrated. They feel they were sold out. They are joined by a majority of the population. An overwhelming majority thinks that the cost of health insurance is just too high. The cost, and the health care insurance companies make far too much money, the pharmaceutical corporations make far too much money and so on......

In international affairs, almost nothing was discussed. I mean there after all are major wars going on, which the population is opposed to strongly. That was barely discussed. Obama didn't discuss it in his press conference.

There is a huge build up of military force in the Arabian Sea. In fact, about 1/4 of the world's aircraft carriers are there. They are almost all American and one French....

As virtually all commentators have noticed, the election was based on the voting in the election. The dominant mood in the country was one based on anger and frustration, disillusionment and contempt for virtually all institutions.

About two-thirds of the population thinks that congress should simply be disbanded and replaced by other people. Corporations are hated, banks are hated, and the government is hated.

Scientists are dismissed as some type of liberal elitists. This is just a general feeling of disillusionment, hopelessness and separation from any conception that a democratic process could lead to constructive change. That is extremely dangerous. "

No comments: